Hometeam baseball: Northbridge falls to Monument Mountain

WORCESTER — A season of unexpected successes came to a conclusion for the young Northbridge baseball team Wednesday at Worcester State, as their postseason ended in the Division 3 state semifinals.

The Rams jumped to an early two-run lead, but the bats went quiet after that, allowing Western Mass. champion Monument Mountain of Great Barrington to rally with a five-run fifth inning en route to a 5-2 final at Worcester State.

"I thought we got as much as we could out of these guys," Northbridge coach John Demagian said. "They really performed when they needed to. We got some big pitching and hitting out of our seniors, and our sophomores stepped up. Mike Quinn had one hell of a series."

Quinn, a sophomore, got all of a James Allentuck offering with two on in the first inning, sending a ground-rule double bounding over the wall in left.

Quinn relieved starting pitcher Liam Cunningham, getting the final seven outs. Quinn walked the first batter he faced, then retired the next seven, including three strikeouts.

Cunningham, also a sophomore, only allowed two hits before running into trouble with two outs in the top of the fifth.

"He was dealing, and I thought maybe he could have got out of that, even when it was 2-2, I thought maybe he could get out of it," Demagian said.

Monument Mountain (17-3) got on base on six consecutive at-bats, including three straight singles, followed by RBI doubles from T.J. Shumsky and Dom Defelice.

"I think the pitcher started to elevate a little bit, and we took advantage of that," Spartans coach Tom Hankey said. "I had a feeling, if we were going to go down, we were going to go down swinging. This team's been aggressive all year swinging the bats, so we just kind of opened up a little bit on our hitting."

Northbridge (16-8) started strong before petering out.

The Rams had four hits in the first inning, starting with Rob Fraser's single up the middle. He went to second on a bad pickoff throw, which proved useful when senior captain Tyler Galimi followed with a single to left and was able to take second on the throw to stop Fraser from taking home.

It proved worth the wait, though, as Fraser beat the throw home on a grounder put in play by Cam Richards, making it 1-0.

Quinn followed with his double to left, delivering Galimi from third.

That was the last from the Northbridge offense, however, as a Quinn single in the fourth was the lone base runner after that. The Spartans' Allentuck retired 19 of the last 20 batters he faced.

"That kid, after we scored the two runs, he bore down, and we didn't really get a sniff after that," Demagian said. "We got a guy to second base once, I think, after that, and that was it. Give them credit, they're good."

Demagian stressed the accomplishments of a squad that included five sophomores and two juniors in the starting lineup on Wednesday.

Northbridge won its eighth Central Mass. title, and its second during the Rams' current run of five straight district finals. On their way to the title, they beat Dual Valley Conference co-champion Nipmuc Regional, Colonial Athletic League champ Assabet Valley and Midland B co-titlist Hudson High.

"Nobody expected this, we were 13-7," Demagian said. "We didn't take the easy road, either, we played three great teams to get there and win it."

Monument Mountain continues its state title quest at 3 p.m. Saturday, taking on Bellingham in the final at Fitton Field.